I will never forget my growing alarm as the war drums for invading Iraq beat louder and louder.
I will never forget my embarrassment at Colin Powell's speech at the UN.
I will never forget that the UN inspectors who asked for a couple of months more to continue the search for WMD, but were instead driven out of Iraq on the run, by the beginning of the Shock and Awe invasion.
I will never forget the pillaging of the ancient and priceless holdings of the museums and libraries in Iraq, because there was no plan to protect them.
I will never forget the outing of Valerie Plame as a CIA secret agent and the persecution of Plame and her husband, Joe Wilson, by the Bush administration because after his investigation, Wilson said that Niger did not sell uranium to Saddam.
I could go on and on with my list. I began to lose a friend when I continued to suggest that there were no WMD in Iraq and that there was no connection between Saddam and al Qaeda. I finally lost that friend on May 1, 2003, when I mocked George W Bush's "Mission Accomplished" moment.How could I, way down in the swamps of Louisiana, know that the chances of finding WMD in Iraq were slim to none, and the members of Congress not know, especially the Democrats who voted for the war? How could I know that Cheney/Bush were lying, and the members of Congress not know?
How could the major media outlets fail so miserably in their responsibility to inform us of the truth in the run-up to war? A small number of journalists expressed doubt about WMD, but few paid attention. As my friend Doug, to whom I owe credit for the video, said on Facebook, "Shocking and awful."
Image from Wikipedia.
And in the news now, the transcripts of LBJ on the phone talking about Richard Nixon interfering in the Viet Nam peace talks in 1968 to keep that war going until after his election, putting politics ahead of actual lives at risk. Manipulation of public perception is one thing (they call it spin or public relations - the relations part being nothing but deceit), but killing our young for profit, that should be the definition of crime, treason, the thing which absolutely disqualifies a person from public office and influence forever after ... but in this time, it just means you get to go on all the Sunday talk shows, endlessly perpetuating the lies. Shame on the so-called journalists for giving these people air time ... shame on all of them for failing to ask the questions and tell the truths that save lives.
ReplyDeleteI read the latest on Tricky Dick, who came close to being canonized several years into his ex-presidency. May we be delivered from further presidencies like those of Nixon and George W Bush.
DeleteWhat a curious coincidence - I thought and felt the same things, way to hell out here on the Texas prairie. Was it telepathy - or as my dear mama used to say, plain old common horse sense. But who would listen to us?
ReplyDeleteIt was plain that Bush was itching to invade Iraq, and in a hurry, before more information about the missing WMD became public. I am mystified to this day why so many were fooled and why so few used common sense to see that Iraq was no imminent threat.
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